You Need to See Mission: Impossible, Even with All the Scientology Craziness

I left Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation feeling as high as Tom Cruise strapped to the side of an airplane. Past Mission: Impossible installments maximized the star's particular vitality and charm, but the latest, from writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, has the snap, shock, and verve to rival modern blockbusters while giving a nod to the retro-cool original series. When I got out of the theater, I felt compelled to shout from the Twitter mountain. I couldn't help myself. Rogue Nation was a great fucking movie. And then I got this response:

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I didn't have one.

My mother won't see Tom Cruise movies. After the couch-jumping incident, the peak of a slippery Scientology slope, she thinks the actor is "too crazy." She can't throw her hard-earned dollars at a madman. I always thought she went too far. Which explains my lack of a counter. But she's not wrong and she's not alone, as evidenced by many a blockbuster devourer. The feeling is reasonable and difficult to reconcile. How is indulging in Tom Cruise the Movie Star's latest action-packed thriller not giving Tom Cruise the Face of an Allegedly Abusive Religion a pass?

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"Celebrity" blares louder than ever, and the scrutiny of actors and actresses intensifies in the months leading up to a new release. Who are they and why are they here? It's worth knowing; we fuel the box office that keeps their million-dollar paychecks coming. An explanation of how they'll use it—To travel to Bali? To feed the hungry? To fuel the NRA's annual Stand and Fight rally?—is a fair request. This isn't anything new; the infamous Astor Place riots occurred when a British thespian dared to perform Hamlet opposite an American actor down the block. Art doesn't live in a vacuum. Meta-narratives give actors baggage. And Tom Curise has some very, very heavy luggage.

In March, HBO's Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Beliefreminded everyone that 1) The Church of Scientology was founded on and continues to conduct serious shady business. And 2) Tom Cruise is a keystone of the organization. The film alleges that the actor took advantage of what many consider to be slave labor. The Church's "Sea Org" members were reportedly paid 40 cents an hour to refurbish his airplane hanger and "trick out his cars and motorcycles." Though the documentary avoided most of the rumors tied to Cruise's romantic relationships, it did reveal that the Church had his ex-wife Nicole Kidman's phones tapped in fear of her departure from the organization, and that his girlfriend Nazanin Boniadi was punished with menial work after worrying aloud about relationship troubles.

Going Clear's damning claims are hard to ignore. There's misconduct happening behind Cruise's charismatic façade, directly or by association. Which brings us back to the spectrum of art-vs.-artist infractions. Critical minds have battled for decades over the moral complications in savoring the films of escaped convicted rapist Roman Polanski. But deny The Pianist and you're missing one of the great films of the new millennium. Should we trash Wagner recordings because he was an anti-Semite? Burn Charles Dickens' books because he ditched his wife for a teenager? Bill Cosby is our most relevant trouble. He stands apart from Cruise: Here was a man who made a living off "paternal" comedy using that same persona to lure women into compromised situations. Cosby polluted his own art. Unless Cruise goes and makes a Battlefield Earth 2, there's little Scientology to be found in his filmography. The man stands apart from the art.

It helps that Cruise hands himself to his collaborators, divorcing his religious beliefs from the text of his films. Like he did for the star in Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow, McQuarrie balances brutality and humor in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. He lets his star take 18 swift blows to the stomach. He trips him up as he T.J. Hooker's over the front of a car. He turns him into David Copperfield for a death-defying water sequence. Backed by impeccable stunt craft, a sweeping score, and impressive turns from Simon Pegg and soon-to-be-your-favorite-leading-lady Rebecca Ferguson, Rogue Nation is an all-around blast. It's not just Cruise's movie. It can't be written off.

So in Cruise's case, hate the game, not the player. Scientology is Hollywood's problem. Boycotting Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation won't halt Cruise's lifestyle. Only yours. The moral obligation ultimately falls to the studio, which is hiring Cruise, not to the public that wants a new Mission: Impossible. If the Church's behavior is nefarious, studios (in this case, Paramount Pictures) has to say no to money. This time they didn't, and Tom Cruise the Movie Star made another great movie.